Lakewood, CO  The Colorado Aces began their 2015 season with an impressive 16-6 victory over the Shockers on April 12th at Bear Creek High School.

  The team which is composed of players from the former Bombers and Grizzlies squad showed it is going to be a team to recon with in the NABA 35W League by beating last season's 3rd place team rather convincingly. 

  The team was led by stellar pitching from starter Dan Clemens who would not give up a run until the 6th inning and get the first ever win in Aces history.  Clemens line was impressive:  6 IP, 5 H,  1 ER, 5 K and 0 BB.  He dominated the game for the first 5 innings by keeping the Shockers hitters off balance with his array of pitches.  The Shockers only got 3 men past 1st base before the 6th when the Aces defense sort of let Clemens down and scored 3 runs off of the Aces starter.  Steve Jay came in to pitch the 7th and gave up the other 3 runs mostly on fielding miscues, but by then the Aces had an 15-3 lead and the outcome was not in doubt.

  The bats were alive and well on this day also as the Aces had 18 hits on the day including 3 players with 2 or more.  Lead-off hitter Kyle Paulson had a great day with 3 hits and 3 runs scored.  Eric Meyer, Andy Philemon, Dan Clemens, and Shane Saunders all scored 2 runs on the day.

The game started with Clemens getting the Shockers out on four hitters with only 12 pitches.  That's when the Aces made their presence known on offense.  Paulson would lead off the game with a solid single to right and subsequently steal 2nd base.  Meyer would draw a 4 pitch walk and then Andy Philemon would launch a mammoth shot to dead center field for a double that would score both Paulson and Meyer for a 2-0 Aces lead.  Jay would score Philemon by reaching on an error by the Shockers left fielder making it 3-0.  Zach Cook would reach on a fielder's choice and then Dennis White would knock in Cook with a single of his own.  The inning wasn't over yet as after a Keith Losey flyout, Shane Saunders would reach on another Shockers error and both he and White would come around to score on a shot by Jeremy Sparks.  The inning would end with the Shockers leading by a 6-0 score and things were looking good for the NABA 35W newcomers.

   The Aces would plate a couple more runs in the third inning when Paulson and Meyer would score on RBI's by Clemens and Jay making the score 8-0.  It would remain that way until the top of the 6th when the Shockers would finally get on the board with 3 runs off of Clemens.  The closeness of the game at this point was short lived as the Aces would answer the Shockers 3 runs with an offensive explosion in the bottom of the 6th.  When the dust had cleared the Aces plated 7 runs in the inning to extend their lead to 15-3 and virtually put the game out of reach. 

  Meyer led off with a strikeout but then the flood gates opened as the next 7 hitters would not only get on base, but they would come across the plate as well.  Big hits in the inning included Jay with another RBI on a double, White with another RBI single, Losey with an RBI single, Saunders drove in 2 with another single of his own, Tony Walsh would knock in a run and Sherman Lodge would knock in the last run of the rally with a stinging single to left center.  All in all, 12 players came to bat in the inning for the Aces and they had 6 hits, 2 walks and 7 RBI.

Other Aces players with hits on the day included Mitch Gross and Jason Leue.  With defensive contributions from Pat Poppen, and Chris Schneider.  

  This was a great way for the Aces to start the season and after last week's rainout, they take the field again this Sunday, April 26th with a 9:00 A.M. game against the Buffalos at Green Mountain High School.